December 28, 2020
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy discounted the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)’s plan to roll back counter-terrorism measures put in place during the last three administrations.
“President –elect Biden has pledged to rescind the Trump administration’s travel restrictions from terror hot spots where in-country vetting is sketchy,” commented AMCD co-chair Tom Harb. “Plus, Biden has pledged to increase refugees from those same areas by 700%. This alone will make American more vulnerable to jihad terror attacks, but CAIR is demanding even more!”
CAIR’s list of demands includes the following:
“1. Fundamentally reform the federal government’s unconstitutional Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB), commonly referred to as the “terrorism watchlist.”
2. Dismantle the TSA’s secretive Quiet Skies passenger tracking program, its international counterpart Silent Partner and other rules-based lists, that operate without Congressional oversight to single out law-abiding Muslim travelers for official harassment and extrajudicial consequences without due process.
3. Oppose and defund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (“DHS”) 2020 “Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention” (“TVTP”) grant program, the successor of DHS’s previous Countering Violent Extremism (“CVE”) grant program.
4. End the FBI’s use of informants to spy on American Muslim communities.
5. Reject any new domestic terrorism statutes.
6. Close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and ensure those detainees already cleared for release are repatriated, and those that remain in U.S. custody are provided due process and a day in court.”
“Basically, CAIR is demanding that we roll back counter-terror measures to pre-9/11 levels when our country was wide-open to terror attacks,” added AMCD co-chair John Hajjar. “They made similar demands on the incoming Obama administration in 2008 and though that administration purged references to jihad ideology as a motivating factor for terrorism in FBI and DHS training materials, the rest of those programs remained in place – even Guantanamo, which Obama had pledged to close.”
“CAIR is perfectly positioned to help the U.S. government as an American organization which has the basic duty to protect the public here at home and abroad. But instead, CAIR’s deafening silence when atrocities are committed by Muslim extremists has totally tarnished CAIR’s image as an American entity,” continued AMCD vice-chair Hossein Khorram. “However, there is no doubt America’s enemies are crowing in triumph at the prospect of a weak incoming Biden administration. After four years of a strong Trump administration during which time jihad terror attacks on our soil were stopped cold, there is no doubt we will experience an increase in attacks in the coming years. Our enemies are emboldened.”
AMCD firmly opposes any policy change which make it easier for jihad supporters to enter our country or to operate here, spreading propaganda and/or planning attacks. There should be bi-partisan agreement on that point.